Title: The September House
Author: Carissa Orlando
Publisher: Penguin Group (Berkley)
Date Published: September 5, 2023
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Rating: ★★★★☆
REVIEW
This was nominated for the Goodreads Choice award for best horror and best debut, and came in 7th and 5th respectively.
I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. After reading many haunted house books that ended up not actually being haunted, I was looking for a book with real hauntings. It also took a different twist on the genre, with the tone being someone lighthearted and humorous. Even with that, there was genuine horror in this house as well. It mixed genres very well and brought up more serious topics in a way that felt natural.
In the beginning we are led to believe that the house's ghosts led the main character's husband to leave after she refuses to move. It turns into a missing person's case when their daughter arrives to find where he went. Throughout the book, Orlando weaves the backstory seamlessly, and we realize that the relationship between husband and wife is toxic and abusive, however much Margaret downplays it. The discussion of spousal abuse was dealt with in a way that, even though the wife doesn't seem to think it is wrong, the narrative makes it clear that it was.
Due to the ghosts being invisible to her daughter but them able to manipulate the house, Margaret's daughter is further pushed into the idea that she is suffering from some sort of dementia. The discussion of memory loss was portrayed in almost a humorous way, because we see the daughter starting to freak out when questioning her mother, but we also get Margaret's narrative on the situation. I really enjoyed that aspect of it.
The horror was also done very well. It would be genuinely frightening to live with Master Vale in the house. He was a monster in life and turned out to be a monster in death. If I lived in a house that was haunted every September, with literal blood running down the walls, there's no way I'd stay. The descriptions were incredibly well done, and the body horror, while gory, didn't feel overdone to the point that it became disgusting. Overall, this was a very solid debut, and if I had read it last year, would have been my vote for best horror of the year.
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